SPS

[Gietz]

So I picked up my first SPS last Thursday and already I'm thinking about getting more . only problem is its not opening up fully.  So since there are some SPS pros on here I was wondering if you could give me some help.  I'm running T5 HO 54 watt bulb fixture and the coral is about less than a foot away away from lights. I've got it in good flow and the parts that are open have already caught food . Here is what's interesting,  the polyps on the bottom are more open than the top?!?!? I'm new at this so any help would be nice . The coral is a bird of paradise and here are my tank lvls

Nitrates - less than 2 but not 0
Alkalinity - 6.1
Magnesium - 1320
Calcium - 440
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Phosphate - I don't know?!?? Not test kit but also no Algee

Any other thing all my LPS and every other coral is growing very good.  And I'm using RC which I've heard doesnt have a high enough Alk balance. 

 

[Zakk]

Move the coral down in the tank for a bit.  It might not like the lights being that close until it acclimates.

Also, phosphate is one of the big big big parameters you NEED to know.  If that number is high, then very likely the coral will slowly die off.  I can't remember, do you run GFO??

I ask because even corals that I have nearly made translucent with lighting, have still always had good polyp extension.  I never worry about corals 'catching' any food really, unlike LPS I think they feed off almost microscopic particles in the water...fish poop and stuff like that.  Plus they get a lot of what they need from good lighting. 

Nitrates should also be 0 if possible, I know when I started with sps I had detectable nitrates, and I wonder if that stunted their growth (they are just now starting to show signs of growth...months later).

Lastly, flow can't be brutal or blast on direct, it should be indirect and constantly moving.  I found with the new wavemaker the polyps extend even more, as they seem to like the back and forth swaying a lot. 

 

[Gietz]

Yup,  I run GFO but I didn't quite follow what you were saying about it!!  I say 2 nitrates because I know it's not zero but it's under 2 aswell.  I just looked at it with the lights off and it's alittle more open now lol.  The reason why I put it at the top is because I bought the frag from Rick and I'm pretty sure his lights are stronger than mine.  If I were to leave it at the top would it acclimate over time?

 

[Blob-79]

your paramaters seem decent. you should be fine with where you have it in your tank, ricks frag tanks are shallow, and pretty sure hes got more bulbs then you. Bump up your alk and check your salinity

 

[Gietz]

Salt is 1.025. And how do I bump up Alk? 

 

[Zakk]

If you want to do SPS, you're sooner or later going to have to start dosing CALCIUM, ALK and MAGNESIUM.  Right now it's likely your salt mix is supplying enough.  To up ALK you would need a supplement like kentmarine superbuffer (use cautiously). 

If you have T5's with good bulbs, GFO, water changes, water movement and good parameters there should be no reason you can't have some success with SPS. 


I could never get any SPS to survive in my old setup, even with 500W of metal halide.  They would last a while, then die out.  My biggest mistakes were: TAP WATER, NO GFO, POOR SKIMMER and infrequent water changes. 

So now, I do the following:
0TDS RO/DI water, both in the auto top off, and as makeup water.
testing testing testing (ALK, PHOSPHATE, CALC, MAG, NITRATE)... I've been looking to get a strontium test kit too lately.
DOSING - Bulk Reef Supply 2-part. (It actually is 3 part) -  Getting that set up added a lot of stability to the system.
BRS CARBON AND GFO - Both swapped out monthly.
WEEKLY 15GAL water changes (my blackberry pages me to remind me)
LEDs - I just like that I don't have the bulbs changing output and or specturm as they age.  LED's seem to stay completely constant.
WATER MOVEMENT - For me the wavemaker made a big change, everything seems happy with it at any rate.

These are the things that really made the change for me.  To bring a tank back from death to a growing SPS tank sort of tells me I'm on the right track.  Other things might help, but for me the biggest improvements were the GFO for phosphate removal (no more hair algae or slime!!), the carbon for water clarity, and the LED's for good light output (although I have absolutely nothing against MH and T5's except for carrying costs).  In fact if money was no object, I would likely have a MH and T5 dominated tank.  The electric bill was just too big.

 

[Gietz]

Ok thx . Now have you guys heard that RC has low ALK lvls?  Some of my buddies said I should switch salt to the coral red sea stuff.  Is that smart?  There saying with my low coral stock they I shouldn't have to dose and there is something wrong with my RC I'll post a picture up and you guys can tell me what you think of this bird of paradise. 

 

[Gietz]

this is the the coral as of yesterday

 

[teebone110]

It looks fine, still probably under stress from the move and the transition.

A lot of good advice already posted. Just try to keep stable water params and you should be good.

Also, as Blob said, you should get that Alk up. Any easy and inexpensive way is to go to the Bulk Barn and get some baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). Dissolve overnight in warmed up RODI water then drip some in over 2 days. Becarefull not to raise too quickly or greater than 1.4 dkh/day. I would aim to get your Alk over 8.0 dkh.

Use the bulkreefsupply calculator http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/reef-calculator
based on your water volume and values.

 

[teebone110]

on further inspection that pic looks like a two-tone birdsnst versus birds of paradise.
The birdsnest is hardy and a good choice as a starter sps, along with digitata.

I just referenced your pic and it could be birds of paradise?? Hard to tell when they are frags. :?

 

[Gietz]

Ok. As for Alk is this something I'll have to do constantly? Always dose? Or once I'm at good lvls am I done?

 

[Zakk]

If you get a lot of SPS going, it's something you have to dose daily.  That and Calcium.  I manually put magnesium in after I test my levels, but the other two have to be dripped or put through a dosing pump. 

 

[Blob-79]

im pretty sure a birds of paradise, is a colour morph of a birdsnest. Try to lower your shutter speed/exposure, it will help to give you truer colours.

Honestly thats pretty average polyp extension you have for a birdsnest.

 

[Darryl_V]

That is tyree/ORA ponape birdsnest....not bird of paradise.

Polyp extension looks fine.  Like mention you should get your alk up a bit.

 

[Gietz]

Alright I'll work on getting my Alk up thx

 

[Zakk]

Remember.....SLOOOOWWWWLLLLYYYYYYYYYY. 

When I raised ALK, it raised PH and it split my brittle starfish right down the middle...no word of a lie, the fish were eating the 'guts' out of the thing.  It healed up just fine and is still in there kicking around (more than 12" big too!).

 

[Gietz]

I'll look into kentmarine.  Why do you say use cautionately?

 

[Zakk]

You mean do it slowly?  Just because..what is the saying.. "nothing good ever happens fast in a reef tank".  Things like water parameters should always change very slowly to let things adjust. 

 

[Gietz]

Ok DI don't dump the whole bottle in, got ya lmao!!  Also another interesting fact about this coral is it is opened more at night.  Why is that?

 

[Zakk]

I have the same thing at night, I think there's just less things swimming around nipping on them at night, and perhaps a their food source comes out at night too.